USER GUIDEGroups

How Groups Work

You can use HEARD to organize communication for all the groups -- inside school (i.e., grades, classrooms, committees) or outside school (sports teams, scout troops, church groups, extra-curriculars).

Privacy

If your school has a HEARD account, all groups created for the school are private. Any group you create on HEARD is private.

View Your Groups

You can only view activity in a group if you create(d) the group or are invited to the group and confirm membership.

You can view all of your groups on the left side bar. You will see a padlock on the left of the group name. This indicates that the group is private.

My Groups on the left side bar (list of all the groups to which you belong) DOES NOT visibly indicate which groups are subgroups of a larger group. Clicking on the group name will allow you to view activity, adults and kids in that group.

If You Create a Group; Inviting Members

If you are created a group or are an admin of a group, you can rename, leave, archive or delete the group. You can also invite others to join the group.

If you are a member of the group (not an admin), you can invite others to the group or leave the group.

If you invite someone to a subgroup of a larger group first -- i.e., a class, team sport, grade group of a school, that person will be automatically added as a member to the larger group of that subgroup.

Create a Group if New to HEARD

Create a Group if You're a Member of HEARD

We encourage you to create new groups within your school or community. Some examples are sports teams, aftercare groups, event planning committees, PTA groups, book clubs, or interests.

To create a group:

On the top of the page, click Create and then click Private Group.

Select a Group Type: Class, Team, Club, or Custom Group.

Enter a name for your group in the Name field.

Choose whether or not to associate the group with your school by selecting either your school’s name or My Group Isn’t Part of a School.

Click Create to finish.

An Invite People box will appear. In the To: field, you can enter someone’s name currently in one of your HEARD groups and/or an email address (if that person is not in any of your HEARD groups). Enter a personal message.

Click Send Invites.

If you choose to Add a New School, your request will be submitted to the HEARD team and someone will contact you within 24 hours to set that up.

Connecting a Group to a School on HEARD

You can connect a group you create to a school if your school has purchased a subscription.

To create a group and connect to your school:

On the top of the page, click Create and then click Private Group.

Select a Group Type: Class, Team, Club, or Custom Group.

Enter a name for your group in the Name field.

Associate the group with your school by selecting [your school’s name]. If you do not see your school's name, your school does not have a HEARD account. Click My Group Isn’t Part of a School to continue creating your group. Contact us with your request to bring your school onto HEARD.

Click Create to finish.

An Invite People box will appear. In the To: field, you can enter someone’s name currently in one of your HEARD groups and/or an email address (if that person is not in any of your HEARD groups). Enter a personal message.

Click Send Invites.

If you invite someone to a subgroup of a larger group first -- i.e., a class, team sport, grade group of a school, that person will be automatically added as a member to the larger group of that subgroup.

Creating Groups Within a School

Within a school, we recommend creating the following groups:

A school group for all members of the community (parents, teachers, staff)

If you'd like the school newsfeed to focus on school-only activity, we recommend creating a parent community group for parents to share advice, news and resources; ask questions; plan events

A group for each grade level (with teachers as admins)

A group for each classroom (with teachers and room parents as admins)

A group for each school committee (i.e., fundraising, event planning, admissions, etc.)

A group for each school-sponsored sports teams

A group for any school-related clubs or after-care program

My Groups on the left side bar (list of all the groups to which you belong) DOES NOT visibly indicate which groups are subgroups of a larger group.

Being an Admin/Leader of a Group

You are an admin of a group if you create the group or are assigned as an admin by the group creator. Giving someone admin or leader privileges gives them access to

Assign other admins to the group (instructions below) or Edit a member's status to an admin. To edit a member's status, click on the group.Click People. Scroll to the person you want to edit. Click Edit.

Send important Announcement posts to the group. These posts bypass email notifications set to LOW and MEDIUM, so they are received via email.

Delete, archive or rename the group.

Delete a post or comment from the group's feed.

Remove a person from the group.

Assign Admin/Leader of a Group

You can only assign an admin/leader to a group if you created the group or are an admin of the group.

To assign an admin/leader to a group:

Click on the group you created on the left side bar.

Click Invite People.

Click Add Class Leader.

If the person your adding is already in a group you share, their name will pop up when you type their name in First Name. Select it. If they aren’t in a group you share, complete the text boxes, including email address.

Type their title in Title in Class -- i.e., Teacher, Teacher Assistant, Room Parent

Type a message in the Personal Message box explaining the group and their role in the group.

Click Send Invite or Send at the top right.

Invite People to a Group

You can invite people to a group whenever you want.

There are two ways to invite people to a group:

Invite via the platform:

Click on the group you want to add people to in the left side bar.

Click Invite People.

Choose what kind of member you want to invite. Click Add New Members or Add Family Members.

Type email addresses into the To field. If the person is already part of one of your groups, type in their name and their profile will pop up. Select it, and they will be added to the To field.

Type in a subject line

Optional: Edit/type a new message in the Personal Message box.

Click Send Invites or click Send at the top right.

OR

Invite via your email:

Click on the group you want to add people to in the left side bar.

Click Invite People. You then have two options of inviting:

Go to the Invite Link box and click Email Link to automatically create an email you can send OR Copy Link (i.e., to send via email or text)

If you invite someone to a subgroup of a larger group first -- i.e., a class, team sport, grade group of a school, that person will be automatically added as a member to the larger group of that subgroup.

Invite Person to be an Admin or Leader to a Group

If you are an admin of a group, you can invite others to be a group admin or leader to your group whenever you want.

Click on the group you want to invite people as a leader to in the left side bar.

Click Invite People.

Click Add Group Leader.

Complete text boxes in profile form. If the person is already part of one of your groups, type in their name and their profile will pop up. Select it, and a new box will appear.

Enter a title -- i.e., Teacher, Co-chair, Assistant Coach, etc.

Edit/type a new message in the Personal Message box.

Click Send Invites or click Send at the top right.

If you invite someone to a subgroup of a larger group first -- i.e., a class, team sport, grade group of a school, that person will be automatically added as a member to the larger group of that subgroup.

Rename a Group

If you are an admin of the group, you can rename it.

To rename a group:

Click on the group you want to rename in the left side bar.

Click Settings, then Rename group.

Type in the new name in the edit box.

Click Rename.

Archive a Group

If you are an admin of the group, you can archive the group. Archiving a group allows you to maintain the history of people, posts, comments of a group that no longer exist, you can archive it if you created the group.

To archive a group:

Click on the group you want to archive in the left side bar.

Click Settings, then Archive group.

You will have two options:

Click Archive if a group no longer exists. This hides the group but maintains its history. For example, archive a classroom at the end of the school year.

Click Delete to completely remove the group, its posts, and its knowledge of relationships. Only delete a group if it was accidentally created.

Leave or Delete a Group

Anyone has the ability to leave a group at any time.

To leave a group:

Click on the group you want to leave on the left side bar.

Click Settings at the right of the top box.

Click Leave this group.

You can only delete a group if you are an admin of the group.

To delete a group:

Click on the group you want to delete on the left sidebar.

Click on Settings on the top right of the first box, then click Archive group.

You will have two options:

Click Archive if a group no longer exists. This hides the group but maintains its history. For example, archive a classroom at the end of the school year.

Click Delete to completely remove the group, its posts, and its knowledge of relationships. Only delete a group if it was accidentally created.

Remove People from a Group

If you are an admin of a group, you can remove people from the group.

To remove people from a group:

Click on the group on the left sidebar.

Click on Settings on the top right of the first box, then click on People over the second box.

Click the x next to Edit. You will be asked to confirm you want to remove this person.